Why it works: Artichoke and flour match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 6% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 466 recipes. Both carry isobutyraldehyde, which smells malty, green. The science ↓
Fried Artichokes
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare
Boil the artichokes in salted water until tender.
In a bowl, mix flour, a pinch of salt, egg yolk, and enough milk to create a batter.
Cut the artichokes in half and dip them in the batter.
Fry
Fry the battered artichokes in hot lard until golden brown.
Transcribed from a scanned cookbook and modernised for today's kitchens. Where the book gave no heat or time, or said "a moderate oven", the temperatures and times here may be modern equivalents rather than the book's own figures.
Explore the science
The flavor team
The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much their aromas overlap, and how often cooks already put them together.
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Artichoke + flourtop 6% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together466 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Flour + milktop 14% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together78,219 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Flour + eggtop 15% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together106,462 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Egg + milktop 18% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together88,785 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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Artichoke + eggtop 21% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together633 recipes
Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-ol (mushroom, earthy).
Flour and milk barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 78,219 recipes: they work on texture and structure more than aroma.
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Artichokes
- Main vegetable; boiling makes them tender before they are battered and fried.
- Flour
- Forms the batter that coats the artichokes and crisps into a golden shell when fried.
- Egg yolk
- Adds richness and helps the batter bind to the artichoke pieces.
- Milk
- Loosens the flour and egg into a batter with a smooth, coating consistency.
- Lard
- Hot frying fat that cooks the batter quickly and browns it.
The step that matters
Frying the battered artichokes. The lard must be hot enough to set the batter quickly. If it is too cool, the batter absorbs oil, turns greasy and browns unevenly.
“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.
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